'Forgive, Forget:' Astoria Widow Aids Uncle Who Killed Her Spouse

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Nearly 25 years after a woman’s uncle killed her husband outside of the couple’s home in Astoria, she is pleading that he be released — and come live with her.

In 1996, Rubina Malik was living near 44th Street and 28th Avenue in Astoria when her husband, Shaukat Parvez, was gunned down on the street by her uncle, Manzoor Qadar in a murder-for-hire by Malik’s father.

To add another layer of drama to the situation, Qadar, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2002, claims Omar Malik — Rubina’s brother — pulled the trigger, not him.

Malik herself doesn't know who was responsible for her husband's death, however, she knows that she's ready to move on from this decades-long family saga.

“I do miss my husband — a lot,” Malik told the New York Daily News in a recent interview. “But I decided to forgive and forget” she said of her attempts to help free her uncle — and offer him a place to stay with her.

‘I don’t have any closure of who did it or who’s responsible’

Malik grew up in Pakistan, where she fell in love with Parvez. The two got married, but were forced to keep their union a secret, since Malik’s father, Malik Rahmet Khan, had arranged for her to marry another man, court documents show.

In order to appease her father, Malik married the other man, but quickly told him about her secret union with Parvez, who at that point was living in the United States. Shortly after, the newlyweds fled to New York, where Malik reunited with Parvez in Queens.

When Khan found out about Malik’s secret marriage, he began conspiring with his son, Omar, to kill his daughter and her two husbands. Khan and Omar talked about paying someone $60,000 to murder the trio, according to one of Malik’s other brothers, who overheard the conversations and tried to warn his sister, court documents show.

A week before Parvez’s murder, Qadar — Parvez’s first cousin — flew into New York and borrowed a friend’s car with Omar, who said that they were going to “teach [Parvez] a lesson.”

On November 22, 1996, Parvez was shot to death on the street. Malik had apparently urged her husband to not go out that day, for fear of his life, according to her testimony given in Qadar’s trial, reported by the New York Post.

But, even while testifying against Qadar in his 2002 trial, Malik didn’t know if her uncle was actually the one who killed her husband.

“At that time [that I testified] I didn’t know anything, who did it, who planned it or anything. They asked me in the trial did I feel like he [Qadar] did it. I said I don’t know if he did it or not,” she told the Daily News.

During the trial, however, Malik testified that Omar told her their father had paid someone else to kill her husband, court documents show. The Daily News reported that Omar fled to Pakistan after the killing.

Qadar — and others who testified on his behalf — said that he was sent to New York to mediate the family dispute and did not kill Parvez. Prior to his life sentencing, prosecutors offered him a plea deal for a 20 year sentence, but Qadar declined, saying that he is innocent, the Post reported.

Malik maintains that she still “[doesn’t] know now who was responsible. The state never disclosed anything to me. They said it’s circumstantial evidence. I don’t have any closure of who did it or who’s responsible,” she said.

Compassionate release application

Then, in May of last year, 24 years into his incarceration, Qadar applied for compassionate release amid the pandemic.

In a letter filed to the judge on Qadar’s behalf, Malik and one of her brothers wrote that if released they “would be more than welcome to accommodate [Qadar] at our home in New York, for as long as he needs.” They said that their uncle gave them “love and affection” and did not mention Parvez’s murder.

Brooklyn Federal Judge Allyne Ross denied Qadar’s initial application, the Daily News reported.

Several months later Qadar, now 60-year-old, reapplied for release, citing his and his wife’s health issues.

While Ross maintains that “Mr. Qadar committed a serious and heinous crime” she decided to release him in-part on the basis of Malik’s support.

“It is relevant to note that Rubina, the person most closely affected by the murder at the heart of this case, feels justice has been served. She supports Mr. Qadar’s release and has offered to open her own home to him, despite his responsibility for her husband’s death,” Ross wrote.

While it’s unlikely that Qadar will go to his niece’s home after his release — he will likely be deported to Pakistan — Malik told the Daily News that she decided to forgive him for the sake of his own family, including his wife and their six children.

“I know how hard it is raising children without a father,” she told the Daily News, alluding to her own now 23-year-old son. “I did mine and still I need a father figure in my son’s life. It’s very, very hard to have lived your life without a husband.”